North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (left) and Attorney General Josh Stein at a campaign event for Stein at the UNC-Chapel Hill campus on Oct. 28, 2024. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)
Governor-elect Josh Stein’s transition team will include longtime advisors to him and Gov. Roy Cooper, a mayor, a former Republican state senator and private sector officials, he announced Thursday.
The Democratic attorney general, who defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson on Tuesday, will begin vetting potential appointees and advisors as he prepares to take the reins from Cooper in January.
“I am honored that these talented folks have agreed to lead our transition team,” Stein said in a news release. “We have the opportunity to make a real difference in North Carolina, and I am looking forward to working closely with them to hire hard-working, public-spirited people who will move our state forward.”
Serving as executive director for the transition will be Christie McNeill — a former McKinsey & Company partner who focused on financial services and energy transition.
The team will also include two longtime staffers for Stein and Cooper: Seth Dearmin, who has been chief of staff at the Department of Justice since 2017, and Kristi Jones, who has served as chief of staff for Cooper as AG and governor.
Esther Manheimer, the mayor of Asheville, will also play a leadership role.
Stein will be tasked with the continued recovery of the city and western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene, and has pledged to continue relief efforts when he takes office.
A former Republican state senator, Richard Stevens, led a coalition of GOP officials who endorsed Stein during the campaign. Now he joins the transition, also serving as an attorney at Smith Anderson in Raleigh.
Stevens served as co-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee under Republican and Democratic majorities and has chaired UNC-Chapel Hill’s Board of Trustees.
Malcolm Coley, a leading official at Ernst & Young and partner at Bright Hope Capital, is also on the transition team. He serves on several boards, including UNC-Wilmington’s Board of Trustees and the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance.
The transition team is fielding applications and will begin interviews on the week of Nov. 18.
In addition to the standard list of departments, boards and commissions, applicants can also indicate if they are primarily interested in “Hurricane Helene response.”